Support Girls and Women's Co-Ops in Morocco

On Tuesday 20^th November, Hassna Ait Hassou, HAF's community leader from Tassa Ouirgane, conducted a community meeting with the women of her Douar (village) concerning the rules they will adopt to manage their association. Hassna has been trained by the High Atlas Foundation's staff to lead meetings through participatory development methods. She is transmitting these skills to members of the Tassa Ouirgane Co-op to encourage autonomy and self-governance. 

Based on Hassna’ reflection, the day was very powerful because the community women showed that they were prepared to start to learn new skills to raise income in order to help their families and themselves. Hassna conveyed that during her meeting with the women, she ensured their full participation while creating norms by which they will manage their association. They went over the basic laws of the association to clarify the goals of the association. Through discussion, the women established the following rules:

• The adherents should have identity card to be a member of the association.
• All priorities of the association should pertain to the local club.
• It‘s forbidden for any woman to bring her child with her to maintain an appropriate environment for work.
• Respect the scheduled time.
• Schedule will be from 2 pm to 6pm.
• Divide the women into two groups if they are so many.
• The first group will attend from 2pm to 4pm.
• The second groups will attend from 4pm to 6pm. In case they are more, they will have another group from 10 am to 12am.
• Every two women will share one machine and work together.

Association’s profits:

Here are the rules on how the profits of Tassa Ouirgane women’s association will be distributed: 

• Set a meeting to discuss if the association needs any materials or no.
• Once they provide the materials needed for the association, the remaining amount of money will be distributed between the adherents (those who are learning new skills at the Nadi ).
• If the amount is less, it will be remained in the association account box for the association related materials.

Thank you so much to our supporters for providing these amazing women with the opportunity to organize and produce income for themselves. Their eagerness and committment is inspiring and apparent. More to come...

Oct. 2012 Field Report from Ouafa Elbarqui, HAF's Center Coordinator:

Cooperative for women and young girls of Tassa Ouirgan, Rural Commune of Ouirgane, Province of Al Haouz, MOROCCO

October, 2012 Updates 

The High Atlas Foundation’s field team had led a great deal of participatory community meetings with women and girls of the rural village “Tassa Ouirgan” for them to prioritize and identify their local development projects. As a result of this series of participatory community planning meetings, around 60 women and girls will benefit from the co-op to be constructed, enabling them to easily manage the local development projects they have already identified. Creating this co-op will also give them a chance to improve their lives in the sense that it offers them a space to meet, discuss and make decisions by their own. More than that, it can be a space for improving their capacities; learning of new skills in different domains: Crafts, Agricultural, educational and environmental skills…etc. It is an important space for skills and knowledge exchange not only between women and young girls but between experts, which will be provided by the HAF.

The HAF has given a lot of importance to the construction of this co-op location for women and has put it as one of the first goals of the HAF in Tassa Ouirgan because of the  great interest the women and young girls have expressed for this need. On September 20, 2012, Ouafa Elbargui, the HAF’s center coordinator was joining the group of women and young girls during two hours of the general assembly for the registration of the women’s co-op, and together we succeeded to formulate the board of directors, which consists of 9 members (women and young girls). These Board members will manage all of the business of the co-op with participation of the other advisors. The co-op is called “Hope Association for Women of Tassa Ouirgan”. For this moment both the HAF’s team and the board members are working together to complete the application file for the registration to submit it to the Caidat of Ouirgan, a state administration which belongs to the Ministry of Interior which provides the authorization for creating cooperatives, nonprofit associations….etc.

Once we get the provisional permit, the construction of the co-op building will begin. Normally, this professional document is received after 15 days of the file submission. Then after two months, the Caidat will provide the final permit. Both the women and the young girls are very ambitious and happy about having their co-op, feeling that sense of autonomy of managing their lives and projects themselves. It always used to be a hope for them but now it is going to be a realized dream.

[See attached photos.]

• Tassa Ouirgane co-op photos (PDF)